ABSTRACT: The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is an underground transuranic nuclear waste repository located in bedded salt formations in southeastern New Mexico. Excavation of rooms and shafts at the WIPP will induce deviatoric stresses in the surrounding rock, resulting in inward creep deformation and perhaps in the production of a disturbed rock zone (DRZ) characterized by microfractures. The stress conditions required for crack propagation are described by the material fracture toughness. Mode I (tensile) and mode II (shear) fracture toughness values were obtained for WIPP salt using the single edge cracked half disc specimen (or semicircular bend specimen) in three-point loading. The experimental method and test results are given in this paper. There are many assumptions inherent in applying fracture mechanics techniques to WIPP salt, and these assumptions should be considered in application of the data.
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4th North American Rock Mechanics Symposium
July 31–August 3, 2000
Seattle, Washington
ISBN:
9058091554
Mode I and Mixed Mode Fracture Mechanics Testing of WIPP Salt
N.S. Brodsky
N.S. Brodsky
Sandia National Laboratories
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Paper presented at the 4th North American Rock Mechanics Symposium, Seattle, Washington, July 2000.
Paper Number:
ARMA-2000-0731
Published:
July 31 2000
Citation
Brodsky, N.S. "Mode I and Mixed Mode Fracture Mechanics Testing of WIPP Salt." Paper presented at the 4th North American Rock Mechanics Symposium, Seattle, Washington, July 2000.
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